The cost of smoking

Texas’ state Medicaid program could save $498 million within five years if all the beneficiaries who smoked quit.

That’s the finding of a report released by the American Legacy Foundation, a national program that addresses the health effects of tobacco use.

The study examined the cost of smoking to state Medicaid programs and determined that if all smokers in the system quit, it could save states about $9.7 billion.

Smoking is this country’s No. 1 cause of preventable death and about 8.6 million Americans suffer from tobacco-related diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 21 percent of Americans smoke.

But it’s also important to note that there is an additional cost of smoking — to non-smokers.

There’s a great deal of research on the the harmful effects of second-hand smoke on adults and particularly children. Doctors at a recent meeting of the Radiological Society of North American reported that one-third of people who breathe in second-hand smoke have physical damage to their lungs similar to that of smokers.

So whether you’re counting in dollars or lives, smoking comes with a very high price.